Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Ever since Cleveland disc jockey Alan Freed coined the phrase, “rock and roll” in the 1950′s, the northeastern Ohio city has been home to the music genre. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Foundation deliberated between many major cities for which would be best to host the hall of fame including New York, Philadelphia, New Orleans, San Francisco, Memphis, and Cleveland. More than 600,000 people petitioned stating that the museum should be located in Cleveland. Additionally, the city hosted Freed’s Moondog Coronation Ball, which is considered to be the first major rock and roll concert. A 1986 USA Today poll of which city should be home to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame had Cleveland in first place by nearly 100,000 votes over Memphis, the next closest contender. It also helped that Cleveland civic leaders pledged $65 million dollars for the construction of a building to be designed by renowned architect, I.M. Pei. It was eventually decided that the museum would open in Cleveland on the shores of Lake Erie. The opening of the museum occurred on September 2, 1995 and included a concert by Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, Al Green, Jerry Lee Lewis, Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, Iggy Pop, John Fogerty, and John Melloncamp in front of 10,000 fans. It is estimated that the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has hosted more than 9 million visitors and driven 1.8 billion dollars of economic impact to Cleveland since opening. Currently, there are 719 people inducted into the Hall of Fame. The 2014 inductees include Kiss, Nirvana, Cat Stevens, Daryl Hall and John Oates, among a few others.